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I am in the process of figuring out what components to put in my media room. I am working out the TV part of it, but I am most likely getting a 60" Plasma. Now I need to make decisions for audio. My media room is not wired for surround or anything else, so that is a challenge for me. Because of the lack of wiring, I have been looking around at quality soundbar options. I am hoping to get some experienced advice on what options I should consider. I know some say soundbars are garbage and some that love them. I just do not want a major headache or have to pay a lot of money to run wires in my media room. Here is what I am dealing with or have looked at thus far:

If you have $2000 to spend, I would definitely not get a sound bar. You should be able to get a decent receiver with five decent speakers for that amount. You might even be able to squeeze a decent subwoofer out of that budget.

I am in the process of figuring out what components to put in my media room. I am working out the TV part of it, but I am most likely getting a 60" Plasma. Now I need to make decisions for audio. My media room is not wired for surround or anything else, so that is a challenge for me. Because of the lack of wiring, I have been looking around at quality soundbar options. I am hoping to get some experienced advice on what options I should consider. I know some say soundbars are garbage and some that love them. I just do not want a major headache or have to pay a lot of money to run wires in my media room. Here is what I am dealing with or have looked at thus far:

My room is in my basement, so wiring is going to be difficult. I am going to have an estimate done, but I am 99% sure that its going to be out of budget to have wiring done. I am using part of a larger room that is about 11.5ft wide and about 26ft long. My theater seating will be around 14ft away from the tv, so I wont be using anything behind like 19ft. My room is like a reverse "L" shape with walkout sliding glass doors on the back wall of the media area.

I don't know why that would be. I've pulled wires through and between joists and dropped it down inside or on walls where needed. No big deal for me, and a cake walk for a pro.

If you think you are going to spend most of the $2k on wiring and not spend a penny more, you need to be asking about boomboxes, $1.98 HTIBs or rack systems, not quality audio systems! ;-)

But if you have to push equipment costs as low as possible and still get a modicum of quality:

(1) A low end refurb 5.1 AVR - about $130 at acessories4less.com
(2) 2 Primus 163 $50-100 each
(3) A low end Panasonic or other name brand BD player - about $80.

Leave the surround sound and subwoofer for the next cash windfall, maybe income tax refund.

I have no idea about the cost yet, but I am planning to spend over $7000 on this room, so I am struggling to spend $2000 on the audio only. Thats why I am worried about the install of the wiring in a room that 100% finished in drywall. Here is a pic of the room, looking at the tv wall.

To the back of the camera are the glass doors wall. The seating will be a few feet in front of the camera.

I completely understand that a full 5.1 or 7.1 system will always be superior to a soundbar. I get that. I am just tyring to find out is if the soundbar is complete garbage and it should never be considered, or is it just not going to "quite as good", but could still bring quality.

I have been planning this room for months now and I need to get it done. I cannot take a month to install stuff or whatever, plus I am not a "construction" type of guy. I can do basic stuff, but construction is not my game. I am a technology guy, not a building guy, so I dont know vast knowledge or tools to do complex stuff myself.

I have no idea about the cost yet, but I am planning to spend over $7000 on this room, so I am struggling to spend $2000 on the audio only. Thats why I am worried about the install of the wiring in a room that 100% finished in drywall. Here is a pic of the room, looking at the tv wall.

To the back of the camera are the glass doors wall. The seating will be a few feet in front of the camera.

I completely understand that a full 5.1 or 7.1 system will always be superior to a soundbar. I get that. I am just tyring to find out is if the soundbar is complete garbage and it should never be considered, or is it just not going to "quite as good", but could still bring quality.

I have been planning this room for months now and I need to get it done. I cannot take a month to install stuff or whatever, plus I am not a "construction" type of guy. I can do basic stuff, but construction is not my game. I am a technology guy, not a building guy, so I dont know vast knowledge or tools to do complex stuff myself.

Do you have to have wires running through the walls? As long as you're not mounting speakers to the walls, you can run the wires under the baseboard, and then up through the stands if they're bookshelf speakers, or right to the back if they're towers. Very little visibility, and virtually no cost.